In all fire fighting operations, quickly reaching the scene of the fire and attacking the fire greatly improves the chances of restricting the fire and preventing injury, and restricting property damage.
It is particularly valuable to use helicopters in fighting fires in inaccessible areas such as brush and timber areas, freeways, and especially jammed freeways during rush hours and high rise buildings.
Fighting fires in high rise buildings entails unusual problems not encountered in other types of fires. Often conventional and modern apparatus used in fighting fires is inappropriate for fighting fires in high rise buildings. The way in which buildings are constructed and the materials used in the construction at the same time makes fire fighting in high rise buildings difficult and dangerous.
From experience it has been recognized that elevators are inappropriate for use during fires. Aerial ladders may be unable to reach floors where fires occur, and conventional high volume fire fighting fluid delivery equipment may be ineffectual.
Hauling fire fighting equipment up stairways is exhausting and slow and reduces the effectiveness of the fire fighters as they reach the locus of the fire. Often the stairs which are used to reach the scene of the fire also serve oppositely flowing downward evacuation traffic.
It has been said that fighting a serious fire in a high rise building places as much demand on fire departments as major brush fires and that manpower equivalent to an entire fire battalion can easily be commited to a high rise building fire.
A need exists for equipment that can rapidly approach the scene of the fire and begin fire fighting operations quickly.
Historically, fire fighting in high rise buildings has been limited to sprinkler systems or men on the scene. Under recent procedures, men climb stairways with heavy breathing equipment and fire fighting equipment to reach the scene of the fire.
The role of new vehicles, such as helicopters, has been limited chiefly to evacuation and command operations.
Some helicopters have been proposed for fighting ground fires.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,829 describes a helicopter forest fire fighting system which uses a mountable tank, pump and boom. The tank is not interchangeable with full tanks; a siphon is used to draw water into the tank when necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,423 describes a fire-fighting boom and tanks for mounting on a helicopter.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,405 shows a helicopter with a gas generator for fighting fires.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,359,573 shows an example of airborne bombs or projectiles used in fighting fires.
No patent suggests a rear mounted control module and a rear mounted nozzle boom. None describes rapidly interchangeable tanks for connections to helicopters, and none shows hardened nozzle boom or projectiles for propelling from nozzle boom to windows.
At this time there is a clear need for a precision, controlled fire fighting helicopter to combat fires in high rise buildings, freeway accidents, brush, timber areas, and other inaccessible areas. In crowded areas and freeways, for a quick response to control fire and save lives, the use of this type of helicopter is imperative.